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Percy Sledge’s manager plays down cancer diagnosis

BATTLING CANCER: The "When A Man Loves A Woman" singer, 73, was forced to pull out of plans to take part in David Gest's Legends of Soul trek earlier this month, leaving the producer to break the news of his friend's health troubles to the audience. Photo: Associated Press

Percy Sledge’s manager has assured fans the R&B veteran is not dying, despite canceling a U.K. tour after he was diagnosed with liver cancer.

He reportedly told a crowd in Stockport, England, “Percy won’t be with us tonight, I’m afraid. He’s in hospital with liver cancer. I know we are all going to pray for him.”

Sledge’s spokesman Mark Lyman has since revealed the star actually underwent surgery to have a cancerous polyp removed from his liver in January, and he was advised by doctors against taking the long-haul trip from the U.S. to the U.K. to give him extra time to recover at his home in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

But Lyman reveals the singer’s cancer battle is looking positive and Sledge will resume his live gigs on 1 March (14), when he is booked to perform at the R&B Reggae Festival in Kingston, Jamaica.

Lyman tells the National Enquirer, “He’s not dying. In fact, he’s going to Jamaica for a concert next week…

“It (the surgery) wasn’t a big deal. He was in and out of the hospital in two hours and has been at home ever since.”